OMG! I just got a verbal "financial" responsibilty smkdown from DA. Updated post 50

[eliza61]

I took my son and my niece for their routine 6 month dental checkup this morning. We've been patients at their dentist for over 10 years. the entire family goes. Anyhoo, I drop kids off, sitting in the waiting room chatting about Disney with 2 of the ladies who are also going this year.

Kids come out and the new dental assistant says Josh (my son) has 2 impacted wisdom teeth that should be removed. I said ok, ask a few pertinent questions like are they hurting him? who will do the surgery? etc etc.

New girl ask "do you want me to call and schedule the procedure today"? I said no, I want to check with my insurance and see what's covered, I'll call back.

She said to me, "humph, people have money to go to disneyworld but don't have money to get their kids teeth fix"!!

Holy Crap!! I'm sorry to say I simple frooze, actually every one did. we couldn't believe she said that. I couldn't think of a thing to say. I'm still stunned (my appointment was a 9:30 this morning).

The other girl who I see all the time quickly defused the situation but believe me, I will be calling and lodging a complaint. I know I should have spoken up then and there, I was just really shocked. WoW!!

 

[disykat]

That's horrible! My dentist's office always submits stuff like that to the insurance FIRST and gets me the estimate of what my costs will be. I don't care how much money you have or what else you spend on, short of an immediate life/death issue, it's financially responsible to find out how much stuff is going to cost before you commit.

That new assistant is due for her own smackdown.

 

[indimom]

I took my son and my niece for their routine 6 month dental checkup this morning. We've been patients at their dentist for over 10 years. the entire family goes. Anyhoo, I drop kids off, sitting in the waiting room chatting about Disney with 2 of the ladies who are also going this year.

Kids come out and the new dental assistant says Josh (my son) has 2 impacted wisdom teeth that should be removed. I said ok, ask a few pertinent questions like are they hurting him? who will do the surgery? etc etc.

New girl ask "do you want me to call and schedule the procedure today"? I said no, I want to check with my insurance and see what's covered, I'll call back.

She said to me, "humph, people have money to go to disneyworld but don't have money to get their kids teeth fix"!!

Holy Crap!! I'm sorry to say I simple frooze, actually every one did. we couldn't believe she said that. I couldn't think of a thing to say. I'm still stunned (my appointment was a 9:30 this morning).

The other girl who I see all the time quickly defused the situation but believe me, I will be calling and lodging a complaint. I know I should have spoken up then and there, I was just really shocked. WoW!!

Wow.

I do believe she was a bit jealous of your conversation...

 

[DawnM]

Oh my gosh!

Yes, put it in writing and get her NAME if you can.

Dawn

 

[travelbug]

How rude!

 

[miralys]

Wow. In addition to being simply rude, that's a shockingly unprofessional attitude to have. She needs to focus on her work and keep her personal opinions to herself when dealing with paying clients.

 

[ilovejack02]

Really , you couldn't think of one thing to say? I would have said alot and it would have began with , "get me your boss, you little twit "

I hope you call back and speak to office manager or Dentist asap.

 

[fkj2]

Way over the line on her part.

Depending on if you have insurance--or how much the costs will be--ask if your dentist offers Care Credit. Depending on the amount, you can repay the expense over an extended period of time same as cash, I believe.

I just checked into it for myself.

 

[cglaura]

I would have said...

"I can afford it, but since you came onboard, the quality of service in this office has gone down so much I'm looking at new dentists and wanted a price to compare."

But I'm like you, I probably wouldn't have been able to formulate that until I was home, being so stunned. Completely unprofessional. I'd call and speak with the dentist directly and let them know you won't be scheduling any visits during that assistant's work hours.

 

[3boymthr]

Oh yeah, way over the top. And totally out of line.

I always say that or "I need to check my calendar" when they want to schedule major work as I want a second opinion on major dental surgery but don't want to insult their professional opinions. (Good thing I do that too as I decided to take DS to Tufts dental school where they are removing his boney impacted teeth for a quarter of the cost of the dentist's recommended oral surgeon )

 

[Pea-n-Me]

She must have stepped out of line when they were giving out filters.

 

[bookmama]

Is she kidding? Who does she think she is? That was rude and uncalled for; you should definitely complain with her name

 

[Irin997]

#1) I can't believe the dentist would allow one of his/her assistant's to talk to a customer like that!!!

#2) Be sure and check with your medical insurance. From a long time ago post on the DIS boards I learned that in most cases wisdom teeth removal can be processed as a medical surgery vs dental surgery and your medical insurance will pick up the cost.

 

[WDWisTheBest]

I took my son and my niece for their routine 6 month dental checkup this morning. We've been patients at their dentist for over 10 years. the entire family goes. Anyhoo, I drop kids off, sitting in the waiting room chatting about Disney with 2 of the ladies who are also going this year.

Kids come out and the new dental assistant says Josh (my son) has 2 impacted wisdom teeth that should be removed. I said ok, ask a few pertinent questions like are they hurting him? who will do the surgery? etc etc.

New girl ask "do you want me to call and schedule the procedure today"? I said no, I want to check with my insurance and see what's covered, I'll call back.

She said to me, "humph, people have money to go to disneyworld but don't have money to get their kids teeth fix"!!

Holy Crap!! I'm sorry to say I simple frooze, actually every one did. we couldn't believe she said that. I couldn't think of a thing to say. I'm still stunned (my appointment was a 9:30 this morning).

The other girl who I see all the time quickly defused the situation but believe me, I will be calling and lodging a complaint. I know I should have spoken up then and there, I was just really shocked. WoW!!

Any possibility of just letting the comment go? I agree it was out of line but....
I would just consider that the dental assistant is new and the comment was not tactful but so what? Then I would stick with business, check with the insurance aspects of the procedure and make up my own mind about what to do and when to do it.

 

[Sandi]

Any possibility of just letting the comment go? I agree it was out of line but....
I would just consider that the dental assistant is new and the comment was not tactful but so what? Then I would stick with business, check with the insurance aspects of the procedure and make up my own mind about what to do and when to do it.

If that assistant was on my staff, I would want to know. I think it's appropriate to report the statement to her superior.

 

[heatherwillmom]

very unprofessional. I would definitely report her. It's a federal violation of privacy to discuss a patient in front of others

 

[cari12]

I took my son and my niece for their routine 6 month dental checkup this morning. We've been patients at their dentist for over 10 years. the entire family goes. Anyhoo, I drop kids off, sitting in the waiting room chatting about Disney with 2 of the ladies who are also going this year.

Kids come out and the new dental assistant says Josh (my son) has 2 impacted wisdom teeth that should be removed. I said ok, ask a few pertinent questions like are they hurting him? who will do the surgery? etc etc.

New girl ask "do you want me to call and schedule the procedure today"? I said no, I want to check with my insurance and see what's covered, I'll call back.

She said to me, "humph, people have money to go to disneyworld but don't have money to get their kids teeth fix"!!

Holy Crap!! I'm sorry to say I simple frooze, actually every one did. we couldn't believe she said that. I couldn't think of a thing to say. I'm still stunned (my appointment was a 9:30 this morning).

The other girl who I see all the time quickly defused the situation but believe me, I will be calling and lodging a complaint. I know I should have spoken up then and there, I was just really shocked. WoW!!

Wow! How unprofessional! She has no right to judge. You did not say you weren't going to do it because you'd rather go to Disney, you said you wanted to know how much your portion was before you booked the treatment. To me that is good financial planning.
My dentist will submit to the insurance companies first for a quote and then tell me what my portion will be.

 

[eliza61]

Really , you couldn't think of one thing to say? I would have said alot and it would have began with , "get me your boss, you little twit "

I hope you call back and speak to office manager or Dentist asap.

I think the "shock" factor came from the fact that we've been patients there for so long and the other ladies are absolutely FABULOUS. One of the reasons I love them is because I'm a huge dental chicken, I would go years without getting a checkup because of my phobia but these gals have a knack of soothing my fears and not causing a bit of anxiety. It was so out of the norm in that office. I love the "little twit" part though.

#1) I can't believe the dentist would allow one of his/her assistant's to talk to a customer like that!!!

#2) Be sure and check with your medical insurance. From a long time ago post on the DIS boards I learned that in most cases wisdom teeth removal can be processed as a medical surgery vs dental surgery and your medical insurance will pick up the cost.

I was just there in January and didn't see her so I'm assuming she's new. I'm willing to bet the other assistants got with her after I left.

 

[CTdiznymom]

Sounds like the "new girl" is soon to be the "old girl". Definately out of line, and definately reportable.

 

[MrsPete]

I took my son and my niece for their routine 6 month dental checkup this morning. We've been patients at their dentist for over 10 years. the entire family goes. Anyhoo, I drop kids off, sitting in the waiting room chatting about Disney with 2 of the ladies who are also going this year.

Kids come out and the new dental assistant says Josh (my son) has 2 impacted wisdom teeth that should be removed. I said ok, ask a few pertinent questions like are they hurting him? who will do the surgery? etc etc.

New girl ask "do you want me to call and schedule the procedure today"? I said no, I want to check with my insurance and see what's covered, I'll call back.

She said to me, "humph, people have money to go to disneyworld but don't have money to get their kids teeth fix"!!

Holy Crap!! I'm sorry to say I simple frooze, actually every one did. we couldn't believe she said that. I couldn't think of a thing to say. I'm still stunned (my appointment was a 9:30 this morning).

The other girl who I see all the time quickly defused the situation but believe me, I will be calling and lodging a complaint. I know I should have spoken up then and there, I was just really shocked. WoW!!

I'd call and complain! Your comment was in no way inappropriate. Yes, the teeth need to come out, but if he hasn't been complaining you don't need to hurry and do it TODAY. I'd want to verify with the insurance that this-or-that oral surgeon is covered, etc.

And I'd want to consider where you stand right now with the deductible. I just got caught on that one: I just had some minor surgery, and when they gave me an early July date I just said, "Fine." In retrospect, I should've stopped to think that my deductible "starts over" July 1st. I could've spent less if I could've been seen a week earlier. I once waited a few weeks for a procedure because I'd spent NOTHING all year long, and I purposefully wanted to pay on the next deductible year. I don't think balancing economics with health is a bad thing.